I just moved into the house and inherited the previous owners settings. I’ve had our irrigation company check the actual sprinkler system but it would be great to get a second set of eyes on the settings of the Racchio if possible. I have all the zones set to flex daily.
For example, when I look at historical data from august 2021 the unit watered around 10,000 gallons, august to date this year it’s at 30 gallons. Something seems off - I know it’s been dry but that’s a lot of water.
This is my third year with my Rachio 3. Are you seeing that it is still overwatering? I have had GREAT success from going to historical to the closest PWS. Also, adjusting my root depth and duration has really helped me spread out waterings and controlling how much is getting dumped on.
You have the ability to switch from using the historical and a web enabled personal weather station that is very close to you. Has been a game changer to me.
Where are you pulling this usage information from, your water bill or Rachio? If it is coming from Rachio, the usage information is calculated from user entered data of zone settings and the area set up in the zones, so it may or may not be accurate. If someone changed the area on a zone, that could account for it…
It would help to see/know duration of zones, how many zones, screenshots of settings and advanced settings to help determine what a lot of water is considered.
If you have 20 zones on an acre of property all grass vs 4000 sq ft of grass. It’s all relative.
So you are saying that the water meter has much the same figure as the Rachio, and you are basically complaining that you are watering too much ? It’s pointless coming on here, making a post in a Troubleshooting forum, when your Rachio unit is confirming the usage on your water meter.
It’s up to you to then decide if it’s over-watered or not. If the grass is the way you want it, then that’s the way it is.
If it’s over-watered and you want advice of how to reduce the amount, then post a zone advanced settings.
Thanks for the feedback, I’m more so wondering if that amount of usage is normal or if those figures seem crazy high. Since I’m new to the unit I was hoping to get community feedback.
What is your sprinkler zone type? What about the spacing for the drip irrigation and the gallons/hour for the emitters?
This will help determine if your precipitation rate settings are accurate.
The other big number is the crop coefficient. What are the crop coefficients you are using for each plant type? Do you have a cool season or warm season lawn?
The screenshot above is incomplete. Scroll down on that screen and post what the nozzle inches per hour are, as mentioned before that is most important when trying to answer users questions. Additionally that screenshot is the advanced setting of the zone, the screen prior or before that is called the settings screen; post a complete screen shot of that as well. It depends on what heads you have, what type of crop you have, what type of grass you have etc.
Without the complete story very few can offer advice or insight.
Apologies still getting used to it. I think this is everything. My other thought is that perhaps the area setting is wrong - all zones seem to have the same size but I’m not sure the impact that would have.
With a nozzle inch so low, I’m curious of what you duration per zone is? It has to be pushing 45+ minutes? If so does it apply the water all in one shot? If so it could be possible the water is just wasting and running off, never actually fully penetrating the soil. If that’s the case maybe set up cycle and soak, so that the water applied gets deeper into the soil.
